Intention is not a justification for excusing a wrong-action, as if an action can be magically validated based on the intent we had at the time. Intention is indeed important. We desire and intend to achieve some goal or end.
But is that a right-end, and are the actions we take to achieve it right? Are we justifying the means to an end, or are we considerate in the journey taken?
Intention is not just thought, it's desire, wish, want, and motivation, which is emotion as well. It's thought and emotion in a feedback to process reality and find motivation to direct us towards an action.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Poorly constructed thoughts, emotions, motivations or intents, can be very dangerous.
Thinking we will do "good works" in the world by functioning from a simplified focus on intentions without proper construction of our thoughts to act, will lead us to being misguided and lost. If we don't elevate ourselves to a higher consciousness modality of thought, emotion and action, we are essentially condemning, insulting and offending ourselves through our ignorance. We need to return to thinking things through in our "minds" and "hearts" to properly process our surroundings and act rightly.
The intention needs to be valid to drive and manifest right-action in the world. Thought is the essence. That is where it starts. Where it ends is what matters, and that is our actions. Cause and effect provides a reciprocal feedback that ends with the results, the effect, not our best wishes and wants that drive us to create them. Intentional drives are the starting point that needs to be properly evaluated internally in consciousness. A poorly validated and justified intention can produce wrong results, if not harm for ourselves or others.
Those who put intention of doing 'good' above the actual action of doing good or not, are deluding themselves about how to manifest reality. These types of thinkers conclude that "the intention is what matters" as "their 'heart' was in the 'right' place", and other delusions they use to seek to justify the wrong-action of the people who create evil in this world. I've heard people try to say Hitler had good intentions. Harm done? Well his intentions were in the right place, give him a break :\
They also blindly believe in some oversimplified notion that "thoughts create reality" or "consciousness creates all of existence", and "the 'observer effect' PROVES reality would not exist without consciousness", when that is NOT the case at all! That is the infection of an imaginary belief construct that twists and corrupts they way someone perceives reality.
Even if that's what they think they are doing (an alleged "good") the fact of them being ignorant and unaware of the true causes for repeating actions or a way of life is no reason to accept intention as the "most important" thing, when it's the actual action that matters in the end.
The intention/thought is where it starts. You need to be well equipped in understanding reality to maximize accurately choosing what to do, no matter your good intentions. That is why life is learning, and we are supposed to learn from our mistakes, not continually justify or excuse them.
We judge, offend, insult and condemn ourselves by our very own actions. We are our own worst enemies.
"You start with something pure, something exciting, then come the mistakes, the compromises. We create our own demons."
- Iron Man 3
We have a thought, an intent, and we run with it without understanding what we are doing. Paving the road to hell. The compromises are the sacrifice of truth for that intent. Then we create our own demons, shadow, darkness, negative and suffering, which is often to create immorality and evil into the world.
“Half the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don’t mean to do harm. But the harm does not interest them. Or they do not see it, or they justify it. Because they are absorbed in the endless struggle to think well of themselves.”
- T. S. Eliot
Thoughts matter, emotions matter, intentions matter, for they are the foundation to action. But in the end they pale in comparison to the resulting action that produces manifested results in the world (be they good or evil).
Some people like to use "intention" as a cop-out for the manifested results they produced. But the action was already done, their intent fooled them, misled them, because proper understanding of holistic aspects of consciousness were not in hand. They went with the blindly "trust-your-feelings" trap. An idea or choice "felt-good", so it was most desired, without taking the proper time to think, or to develop and learn better thinking skills.
“Life isn’t about where you are going or how fast, it’s about how you get there. It doesn’t really matter what you had in your mind, or your heart, or how much you wanted it, or how good your intentions were, all that really matters is what you do, because what we do is who we are.”
- Space Warriors (2013)
In the end, what we do is what matters, not all the excuses or reasons we did it. That doesn't mean intentions or thoughts don't count, because they do. They are used to head towards the faulty actions, or the proper action. Correcting our thoughts is how we correct our behavior. Be mindful of the journey taken to get to a destination.
Do you think intentions justify and excuse someone from what they did?
Have you even fallen for the "good intentions" excuse?
Did you use it yourself, or have it used on you?
Thank you for your time and attention. Peace.
If you appreciate and value the content, please consider:
Upvoting 
